The Apple Watch is here, and it’s damn impressive

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A wearable from Apple was something that everyone has wanted for the last couple of months, but Apple did them two better. Instead of a single watch, Apple has announced three different devices: The Apple Watch, Watch Sport, and Watch Edition are here, and they are by far the best-looking smartwatches created so far.

Apple has gone well above what had been imagined by most when it comes to the smartwatch. The design relies on a combination of touch, voice, and a traditional watch crown to handle a whole new kind of UI. They call it the Digital Crown, and it’s designed to control the majority of interactions while also acting as the home button. This square design is smooth and rounded, and comes in the same three colors as the iPhone. Like the variety of phone cases on the market, there are plenty of Apple-made watch bands to personalize the experience.

Apple’s flexible retina display is under a sapphire glass cover, with touch and force sensors on the top and a heartbeat monitor underneath. This means the watch can tell the difference between a light touch and a forceful press, and made sure the UI is aware of what is going on. There’s an accelerometer and a gryoscope to work in conjunction with the heartbeat monitor and fitness apps, and the haptic feedback motor works with the speaker to offer several levels of feedback.

Much like the hardware, the software is a highly controlled ecosystem. Apple has a ton of very pleasing animations to go along with notifications, as well as active emoji for responding to messages. The voice controls are almost entirely contained within responses, but the watch has Siri support as well. You still have to hit the button to activate Siri (Siri doesn’t seem to respond audibly), and voice is clearly not quite a huge focus, but when voice does make an appearance, it seems to work well.

Finally, Apple has made a special MagSafe connector to charge the watch through magnetic induction. The back of the watch snaps into place and is easily removed.

The Apple Watch is a complete thought in an ocean of smartwatches that feel more like beta tests. You’ll need the iPhone 5 or greater to take advantage of the Apple Watch, and it’s going to cost you $349 for the base model. Apple plans to have this hardware ready early next year, which gives the competition precious little time to play catch up.